Getting Started

Orientation and Training for Sunday School Leaders

Characteristics of Effective Leaders

You have been called by inspiration to lead. Because you are a representative of the Savior, it is important to reflect the manner of His leadership in the way you lead others. President Spencer W. Kimball taught that "Jesus operated from a base of fixed principles or truths rather than making up the rules as he went along. Thus, his leadership style was not only correct, but also constant" ("Jesus: The Perfect Leader," Ensign, Aug. 1979, 5).

Learn more about the Savior's way of leading in Handbook 2: Administering the Church (2010), 3.1.

Learn more about the purposes for leaders, outlined by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, that will help you magnify your calling in Handbook 2,3.4.

Learn more about the principles of leadership that will help you to be an effective leader in Handbook 2,3.2.

Learn more about how families and the Church are the foundation of your role as a leader in any organization in the Church in Handbook 2,1.

Learn about the importance of using Handbook 2 and other Church resources to help you fulfill your duties in Handbook 2,3.3.9.

Purposes of Sunday School

As a leader, you now have the privilege and responsibility to help fulfill the purposes of the Sunday School. To be effective in this calling, you must understand those purposes.

Learn more about the specific purposes of the Sunday School that will help direct your efforts in your calling in Handbook 2,12.1.

Administering the Sunday School

As a leader you have been given the sacred responsibility to fulfill the purposes of the Sunday School in your stake, ward, or branch. "Wherefore, now let every man learn his duty, and to act in the office in which he is appointed, in all diligence" (D&C 107:99).

Stake Callings

If you are a stake president, counselor in the stake presidency, or stake high councilor assigned to Sunday School, learn more about your responsibilities in the Sunday School in Handbook 2,12.7.1; 12.7.2; 5.5.8; 15.3.1; 18.3.11.

If you are a counselor in a ward Sunday School presidency, learn more about your specific responsibilities in Handbook 2,12.2.2; 12.3; 5.5.3; 5.5.4; 5.5.5.

If you are a ward Sunday School secretary, learn more about your specific responsibilities in Handbook 2,12.2.4; 3.3.7; 3.3.9.

If you are a Sunday School class president, learn more about your responsibilities in Handbook 2,12.2.5; 3.2.3.

If you are a ward librarian, learn more about your specific responsibilities in Handbook 2,12.6.

If you are a Sunday School teacher, learn more about your responsibilities in Handbook 2,12.2.3; 5.5; 5.5.4; 5.5.6; 3.2.4.

Improving Learning and Teaching

Only through the grace of Jesus Christ can we lead effectively in the Church and in the Sunday School. The Savior admonished, "Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly . . . in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand" (D&C 88:78). As a leader in the Church, you have the vital responsibility to improve learning and teaching in the Church and in the home.

Learn more about your responsibilities to improve gospel learning and teaching in the Sunday School in Handbook 2,12.2.2.

Learn more about improving gospel learning and teaching by orienting new teachers, providing ongoing support, and ensuring that teaching is edifying and doctrinally correct in Handbook 2,5.5.3.

Learn more about how gospel learning and teaching are accomplished through fundamental principles such as loving those you teach, teaching by the Spirit, teaching the doctrine, and inviting diligent learning in Handbook 2,5.5.4.

Learn more about your role as a specialist in stake or ward efforts to improve learning and teaching in Handbook 2,12.5; 12.2.2; 5.5.5; 15.1.

Learn more about how the Teaching the Gospel course can help improve gospel learning and teaching in your ward or stake in Handbook 2,5.5.7.

Learn more about using Teaching, No Greater Call as a resource for improving gospel learning and teaching in the Church and in the home in Handbook 2,5.5.6.